What Happens when You 'Escape Smoking"...

Before knowing How stop smoking, Know What to expect when you Quit Smoking

How long does nicotine stay in your system? Exactly when you start feeling the withdrawal of the nicotine curse? Your Health Benefits come slowly but consistently after quitting smoking. At the same time, once you finally “say adios to your old friend- cigarettes” you start a great emotional journey of your life. While the health improvements keep on building up step by step, leaving the habit and delusion of smoking is in fact a big ‘personal loss’ to a longtime smoker.

Before we tell you how stop smoking, here we present you with the facts regarding you regaining your health after you stop smoking; at the same time we explain the emotional phases you’re likely to go through during the process. For describing the emotional loss of a smoker, we find the Kübler-Ross model of “5 stages of grief” to be of extreme relevance. Kübler-Ross originally developed this model based on her observations of people suffering from terminal illness. She later expanded her theory to apply to any form of catastrophic personal loss.

In just 20 minutesYou’ll feel your pounding heart is returning to normalcy. Your Blood Pressure will normalize. After 2 hoursIf
you’re an ‘average’ smoker, you start feeling discomfort. You feel like
‘it has started’; Nothing has started though! It’s the addict in you
that’s trying to break your quit in the bud. Your blood nicotine level
has gone down by 75%.

The Phase of ‘Denial’:This
is the first stage of facing an emotional loss. At this stage you’ll
feel “I’m fine”, “nothing bad is happening”, it is a temporary stage of
an individual’s false self defense. It is recommended that you get
yourself out of this delusion as quickly as you can.

When 8 hours have passedAbout
95% of the nicotine have been excreted through urine. Your body, for
the first time is seriously ‘nicotine hungry’. Pump up the adrenaline,
now you’re well into the fight. 12 hours, your first significant mark, is achievedDespite
you feeling the exact opposite, Blood oxygen level has reached that of a
non-smoker now, Carbon Monoxide level lowered down to normal too. You
start feeling a bit ‘blurred’ here. Again, the situation is much
worsened in your ‘mental image’. Just remember, you have often slept
through this length of time quite comfortably without any cigarette!24 hours- a day without a cigarette has passed You
feel really Anxious. Your real journey through the difficult part of
quitting smoking has started. This is the peak level of Anxiety which,
within two weeks would return to near pre-quitting levels.

The Phase of ‘Anger’:In
this second stage of your emotional journey, you have now identified
the futility of your denial. Now you know something has gone the way
that you don’t like. You become angry now. This anger can demonstrate
itself in different forms- impatience, restlessness, intolerance etc.
“why is this happening to me”, “Why should I face this”, “Hell, I hate
ALL”: are some common feeling at this stage. The target of this anger is
often yourself and the closest ones- friends and family members.

When 48 hours are goneYou
are possibly angry and irritable to the highest order and your negative
bearings will gradually return to normalcy within 3 weeks. For the
first time you begin to ‘notice one benefit of quitting’- food tastes
better! Flowers actually Do smell nice! Damaged nerve endings are
healing, giving you better sense of taste and smell.

Once the all important 72 hours mark is downYour
body has cleaned itself off nicotine. All the quit related
negative physical and mental symptoms are at their peak. Good news is it
only gets better from this point onwards. The number of trigger induced
crave-episodes experienced during any quitting day will hit the highest
point. Lung bronchial tubes leading to ‘alveoli’ are beginning to
relax. Breathing has become easier and the Lungs-function increase.This,
as many quit experts describe, is The Most important point in a quit. A
‘make or break’ point indeed. Believe it, it doesn’t get any worse from
here. Since today, everyday it gets easier on you.

The Phase of ‘Depression’:Once
you’re successfully out of the ‘anger stage’- you realize that being
impatient, treating others bad, being intolerant to the kids is NOT
going to be of much help, you, for the first time, realize that “this is
a ‘love it or leave it’ kind of a situation”. And guess what, you start
a relatively longer period of ‘Depression’. “It’s over with me”, “I
have lost all the charms of life”, “Nothing much of a life is left
anymore” and “I am Sad”- are the common inner feelings here. Unlike
‘anger’ at this stage it’s more of an ‘internal game’; you detach
yourself, to some degree, from the outside world and remorse for
yourself.

During day-4 to day-8Number of
trigger induced craving have got down to 3 a day. From this point on
the quit is more of a mental game than physical, as the ‘physical’ war
has actually ended after 72 hours.

By the end of 10 daysAll
the reminiscence of the physical addiction has left you. The "average
ex-user is down to encountering less than two crave episodes per day,
each less than 3 minutes.

The Phase of ‘Bargaining’: This
is the highest hurdle for a quitter. The inner “junkie” starts
Bargaining. This is a clear stage of a “Split inner-self”; the ‘con
part’ tries to convince the ‘sane part’ of your mind of many things and
‘give you the permission to smoke’ in return! The thoughts are sometimes
very deceiving like “Ok, now that I’m a non-smoker, I can safely take
One Puff”, “ What’s wrong in being only an ‘occasional smoker”, “OK, I
can have one cigarette on the condition of not Starting again”, “This
time I’ll be really sensible, now go and have One”. The simplest Test
at this stage is- “Is this thought or Bargain finally leading me to a
Cigarette?” if the answer is “yes” then identify this as the Bargaining
of the junkie.

Up to 2 weeksCravings are
consistently minimizing their visits! On and off, less than once or
twice a day the ex-smoker ‘thinks of a cigarette’. Blood circulation has
improved a lot. Some avid smokers may face bleeding gums during this
time, which actually is a healthy sign; this is happening because of the
increased blood circulation in the gums.

Within 2 to 4 weeksQuitting
related symptoms, like- anger, anxiety, concentration lapse,
impatience, insomnia, restlessness and depression, have subsided. The
excess risk of having a heart attack has started its long descend.
Visible improvement in breathing is seen; Lung function has started
improving. Some old smokers would experience deep cough and expel phlegm
during this time. The lungs, now free from the bullying of Tar, have
started its long process of self cleansing.

From 3 weeks to 3 monthsBlood
circulation in the whole body substantially improves. You feel less and
less “out-of-breath” with increased physical activity. Your chronic
cough, if any, is going to disappear at any point in this time period.

The Phase of ‘Acceptance’:Varying
from person to person, an ex-smoker finally enters this stage after one
to three months of complete abstinence. Now you know this is your new
‘life situation’. And you finally start appreciating the bright side of
your decision. You are now recognizing you are actually way better-off
without your old friend hanging from your lips.

During 2nd to 9th monthAfter you've taken your last puff, any smoking related sinus congestion,
fatigue or shortness of breath has gradually disappeared. This
‘9-months-journey’ is especially important for your Lungs. It’s during
this time that your ‘Celia’ re-grows- back to normalcy, giving your
lungs back the ability to cleanse itself like they do in normal
nonsmoking people.

The Phase of ‘Confidence’:Though
not a part of the Kübler-Ross model, this is the ultimate stage that a
quit attempt reaches finally. At this stage the ex-smoker is confident
of their achievement, feels great, fully enjoys the benefits of quitting
smoking. Often, this becomes the deadliest stage: the self-content,
confident ex-smoker tries to prove that they have finally quit and in an
effort to prove that they can’t be hooked ever again- tries a smoke and
marches straight into the bottomless pit again!

After 1 yearYour likelihood of having a heart attack or coronary heart disease or a stroke is now half of that of a smoker.

5 to 15 yearsYou have no more risk of a Stroke than a nonsmoker does.10 yearsFor
an average ex-smoker (one-pack-a-day smoker) the risk of dying from
Lung cancer has now declined to half in comparison to a smoker. Your
risk of pancreatic cancer has declined to that of a never-smoker, risk
of cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus has also declined. 15 yearsYour risk of coronary heart disease is now at the level of a person who has never smoked.20 yearsExcess
risk of death from all smoking related causes, including lung disease
and cancer, has now reduced to that of a never-smoker.